Scrambled Brain

[Hope4Now]

I could use suggestions. One of my strengths is I've always been a sort of hyper-focused person. Sometime now, though, I just can't manage to get and stay focused even though I really want to. Can't do it today. Have been at work for 2 hours and can't think straight enough to do anything at all. I've tried breathing, yoga poses, hot drinks, food.

Does this happen to anybody else?

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

Oh constantly. I am either hyper-focused and can't let go (even when it's about negative things, sadly) or not focused at all and all over the place.
Sadly I have no idea how to improve this. Usually I just switch tasks when I get this (i.e I stop trying to read and go do the dishes) but since you're at work that's gonna be a bit of a problem.

I did start training my brain to focus, recently with a brain game, but I can't tell if it works yet. Hope some other people have good suggestions for you (I'd be interested too).

 

[shimmerz]

hyper-focused and can't let go

Jeeez, I didn't think of this. I spent the first 40+ years of my life in this state constantly. People thought I was a genius when really I was just digging myself into an inevitable nervous breakdown. Thanks for this @Radise . Hadn't somehow put this together (some genius huh?).

@Hope4Now , yes. It was all or nothing for me though. I didn't switch from day to day or hour to hour. Hyper focus for decades to hypo focus for the last eight years. It has come back to me now though and I feel like I am able to switch evenly between the two since I left for California. No idea why.

 

[Deleted member 28403]

I get really focused on something when it interests me and it kinda becomes what I care about a lot... Yep... But lately I've been a total mess, so I lose the sight of what I'm doing and I'm quite unstable in the last month, due to rise of stress... Well, thats about it on what I'll write for now.

 

[Hope4Now]

I am still pretty scrambled. Managed to stay seated mostly and get through "work" today. I was supposed to be writing scripts for filming that will happen in a week. Managed a little, but they were filled with typos and pretty incoherent. Not good. At all. Waste of a day. Days like today, I feel like a waste of a person. Called my therapist in the afternoon after a long internal battle. Not good either. Shouldn't have done it. Felt stupid. We said goodbye on Monday (he is going away for a week or so), but parts of me still needed to connect with him again. I hate that I hate that he is going away. Ugh. I love and hate that he felt compelled to get me to sign a release to talk to another therapist who is covering for him. I hate that I need people to help me get unscrambled, but am terrified to ask anyone. Ugh Ugh Ugh.

Thanks for your posts, peeps.

Jeeez, I didn't think of this. I spent the first 40+ years of my life in this state constantly. People thought I was a genius when really I was just digging myself into an inevitable nervous breakdown. Thanks for this [DLMURL="https://www.myptsd.com/c/members/9318/"]@Radise[/DLMURL] . Hadn't somehow put this together (some genius huh?).

[DLMURL="https://www.myptsd.com/c/members/24896/"]@Hope4Now[/DLMURL] , yes. It was all or nothing for me though. I didn't switch from day to day or hour to hour.

I managed to hyperfocus for almost 50 years. Then the big meltdown. Now, after a year and a half of trauma therapy, sometimes I can manage to shift when I need to--particularly when other people need me to do things. Or when I'm terrified of someone finding out about all this chaos of the soul.

 

[WildMermaid]

<--truly brain/mind scrambled right now, much may be from migraines but I cannot focus for more than a few minutes on any task. I hope your stresses pass soon and life comes back into focus. *hugs*

 

[jaccat]

The scrambled brain thing definitely. Normally I am so with it. But a few times I've found myself at work, staring at the computer and not able to understand a thing on it. Not even able to do something basic like spell a simple word or hold a conversation. It's pretty terrifying. I think in me its a stress overload. I'm not great at dealing with it, other than going home and trying to sleep it off.

 

[Friday]

I'm ADHD so it a way of life. Unless something is interesting, focusing on anything is like trying to hold onto sand in running water. Or like a dog trying to hold one too many tennis balls in its mouth! Some tips/tricks

- Play music. It washes away most of the distractions, and adds emotional flavor.

- Only touch something once. Be it bills, cleaning, email, phonecalls, etc. Anything that you can "finish it later" or "Ill get back to this after..." Just doesn't happen, and you can end up chasing your own tail and getting nothing done (dabble, dabble, oh shit I forgot, dabble, dabble, what was I doing?). Sit down and do a thing until it's done. If you don't have the ability right this moment, don't touch it. ((Example here for me is mail... I can spend 2 months trying to get 1 months bills paid, if I try to "stay on top" of my mail. Thwibbt. Nope. Not gonna happen. Or I can lay out a single afternoon, get it all done for the month, and use the extra time left over for gaming... Cause it really doesn't take that long. But I still set aside the block of time with nothing else going on, so I can do it. ))

- Take breaks. I take a 5-15 minute break between every single activity in order to shift gears. Depending on how long &/or intense the previous activity was. Turn off the music. Get all super distractible & spacey for a bit. Then shift gears, plan out the new task, turn the music on, and execute it.

- 'Close enough for government work.' Meaning now is not the time for fine attention to detail. Put the perfectionism away for the time being until you do have the focus/drive/inspiration to attend to detail oriented projects.

- HALT. Hungry, angry, lonely, tired? Attend to those things before trying to do anything else. Or the anything else will take 10x as long!

 

[Deleted member 28403]

@FridayJones

Looking back at my (haha, this typo... Sounds so piratey! "Looking back at me papers!") papers, back then I had a probability for ADHD diagnosis... But that was way back then... I have some ADHD symptoms thus...

I know how you feel and I can empathyse.

Your tips could actually be helpful to me, as I have very selective concentration sometimes, except when hyper-vigiliance strikes... Well.. Thank you

 

[Hope4Now]

you can end up chasing your own tail and getting nothing done (dabble, dabble, oh shit I forgot, dabble, dabble, what was I doing?). Sit down and do a thing until it's done.

!!! I don't have ADHD but this sure describes me when I'm scrambled!!!
@FridayJones thank you for the strategies. You've given me the idea that I ought to make a list of them I can look at. Because when I get really scrambled/hijacked, I seem to forget everything I know.

 

[WildMermaid]

@FridayJones ~ Wonderful advice! - "Take breaks. I take a 5-15 minute break between every single activity in order to shift gears. Depending on how long &/or intense the previous activity was. Turn off the music. Get all super distractible & spacey for a bit. Then shift gears, plan out the new task, turn the music on, and execute it." this bit is especially useful thank you for sharing your suggestions!

 

[Chava]

Classical music or e-mail myself one or two to-do items....very simple, like I shouldn't even need to list them. But then it becomes more concrete, I do them, and I delete the e-mail. Sticky notes too. Also, I go across the building to fill my water bottle just to move and snap out of it if needed.

Can you tell if part of the scramble is related to anything, like being distracted by something else? When I've had stressful weeks with a lot dragging on in my mind, I keep a notebook in my bag so I can jot down ideas about the other thing then get back to work...like clear my head. I've had lots of medical stuff and sometimes it helps to just write down some action idea, like what I can do next (call Dr. so-and-so or whatever) so I can mentally leave it alone. I've gotten better at recognizing this kind of distraction. I don't notice myself thinking about other stuff exactly, but if I feel just generally scattered it's because totally different issues are competing for too much attention and none of them win because I'm trying to just stay focused on work. Like many others here, I focus like a mad machine once I can focus. I over-focus. So I make up for lost time and forgive myself. But it is very helpful to find those tricks to get back on track when feeling really scattered. I've experienced that lot lately.